Episode #5.2

Episode 5.2 ratchets up the tension.

With Alice seemingly back from the dead, Luther's problems are multiplied.

With "Doctor Death" becoming increasingly unbalanced, his equally unhinged wife shows concern. Are her husband's impulses growing uncontrollable?

Meanwhile, Alice's own killer impulses threaten to unravel all Luther's good work.

10 out of 10. Unmissable drama.

I don't need to really add any other word to my review then wow, wow on all counts, the story, pace, action, acting, every single aspect was terrific.

I particularly loved the scenes between Ruth Wilson and Patrick Malahide, two fabulously villainous actors going at eachother, some truly powerful scenes. As much as I love Luther, and Elba, it's Wilson that commands the screen.

The story itself is very dark, and more twisted then it seemed on the surface. The writing superb.

One niggle, the sound was awful, at times going incredibly quiet, it was distracting, and at times it was so dark it was giving me a headache. Minor quibbles, which I'm sure will be sorted for the blu ray release.

Fabulous. 10/10

If Luther has shown us anything, it's that it works better when bundled in a four episode Series. And Series 5 has already picked up the slack from the underwhelming halved previous Series. Luther is still trying to deal with George's temper and juggle a murder case, but both are falling out of his control behind his back. This episode is nerve-wracking, has bloody/strange acts of crime and tense confrontations. Basically, the Luther we know and love is back. And while it's more outwardly Pulp Fiction leaning and less satisfying than some of its earlier material, this still packs a wallop after a four year disappearance.

This episode picks up the slack from episode one, which I found a bit vanilla as far as Luther is concerned... 5x2 was a huge improvement due its sheer insanity and bloodiness. This is not meant to be a gritty, "realistic" cop show; it's a heightened Grand Guignol-style opera, where people are endlessly tortured, butchered and mutilated and there's only one battered man, the titular DCI John Luther (Idris Elba), who has any hope of stemming the madness.

All of that is to say, this episode is a lot of fun. We witness more bizarre goings-on between Dr. Lake (Hermione Norris) and her freakish surgeon husband (Enzo Cilenti); there's plenty of frenetic action as Luther tries to diffuse the explosive rivalry between his old nemesis Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) and gangster George Cornelius (Patrick Malahide); and Luther's boss Schenk (Dermot Crowley) starts to grow suspicious of his top detective (potentially returning their dynamic to the one that existed in season 2).

It's a lot of fun and there's plenty of truly uncomfortable (and often graphic) WTF moments that writer Neil Cross clearly had a great time coming up with.

My only criticisms are that Luther's youthful partner DS Halliday (Wunmi Mosaku) is starting to become total comic relief at this point. I like her, but the episode makes her out to be almost too naive. And then there's Luther himself -- Idris Elba is great as always, but almost all of his lines in this episode seem to be way more curt than usual. In past seasons Luther has had a lot more to say; it's almost as if the character is starting to tire of all the shenanigans that befall him.

Overall, an entertaining hour of TV.

Icy psychiatrist Dr Lake was protecting another killer, her husband also a doctor, a heart specialist and insane.

Luther and his new sidekick Detective Sgt Catherine Halliday knew something about her did not add up.

Luther has other troubles. Alice shows up injured and it is her who has wound up crime boss George Cornelius. He wants Luther to give Alice to him.

Luther is in a spot of bother. His boss Schenk knows finds out about Alice, his colleague Silver is in a spot of bother and more people are in danger.

Mad, bad and dangerous to know, that's just Alice among others in this episode.